Effects of cytomegalovirus on the adhesion of bone marrow stromal cells

AIM: To investigate the effect of cytomegalovirus (CMV) on the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in bone marrow stromal cells and on the adhesion of bone marrow stromal cells to hematopoietic cells. METHODS: Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in bone marrow stromal cells, MTT method was used to perform the adhesion assay of bone marrow stromal cells to normal hematopoietic cells. RESULTS: Bone marrow stromal cells could be infected by the CMV used in this experiment; CMV below the dose of 100TCID 50 could not destroy bone marrow stromal cells apparently; The expression of ICAM-1 increased at the early stage(18 h) of CMV infection, the expression of ICAM-1 decreased at the late stage (120 h) of CMV infection. Inactived CMV could also increase the expression of ICAM-1 as alive CMV; The adhesion rate of bone marrow stromal cells to hematopoietic cells increased at the early stage of CMV infection. CMV had no significant effects on the expression of VCAM-1 in bone marrow stromal cells. CONCLUSION: The adhesion capacity of bone marrow stromal cells to hematopoietic cells increased at the early stage of CMV infection, while the adhesion capacity of bone marrow stromal cells to hematopoietic cells decreased at the late stage of CMV infection.